Rashawn
Feminine
Rashawn is given to both — 709 girls and 6,408 boys since 1880. See Rashawn as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Rashawn joins a free American prefix to the phonetic spelling of an Irish name, which is a common enough build. It also sits close enough to the title of a famous film that the association arrives whether or not anyone intended it — and that film gave English a word it now uses in courtrooms.
How old is the name Rashawn?
Rashawn first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Rashawn alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 700 people named Rashawn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rashawn most popular?
Rashawn peaked in 1979, reaching #2525 nationally. See the whole 1979 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Rashawn
A Japanese film of the early nineteen-fifties tells one story four times, from four points of view, and the four accounts are irreconcilable: a bandit, a wife, a dead man speaking through a medium and a woodcutter all describe the same killing, and each version makes its teller look better. The film does not resolve which is true and is not interested in doing so. Its title has since become an ordinary English term — the Rashomon effect — used by psychologists, lawyers and historians for the situation where honest witnesses to one event produce accounts that cannot all be right. What makes it useful as a concept is that it does not require anybody to be lying. Memory reshapes itself around what a person needs to be the case, and the reshaping is invisible from the inside.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The base is an American respelling of the Irish form of John, which carries a Hebrew meaning several removes back. The prefix is a free element with no content of its own. The compound has no documented source, and readings tied to Arabic or Egyptian words are attached after the fact.
Pronouncing Rashawn
ruh-SHAWN
Two syllables with the stress at the back. The prefix is light and disappears in fast speech, which is why the name is often heard as Shawn with something in front of it.
Nicknames for Rashawn
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1966
- Most girls named
- 197936 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2525reached in 1979
- Change vs 2000
- −16.7%5 in 2001, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Rashawns among us
people named Rashawn are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Rashawn sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Back stress gives the name a firm landing and makes it carry.
- Shawn detaches at once and needs no explanation anywhere.
- The spelling is phonetic and can be written down from hearing.
- Rashaun, Rayshawn and Rashon are all recorded and will be written for it.
- The record holds it for daughters too, though far fewer.
- Only the base carries a meaning, and it carries it at several removes.
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Rashawn
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Rashawns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Rashawn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rashawn in 2025?
- Rashawn is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Rashawn with classmates?
- Rashawn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Ruth#173 · Rebecca#349 · Rachel#250 · Rose#114 · Ruby#64 · Robin#704 · Rita#1285 · Rhonda#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rashawn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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